Last week the MUI, a Muslim organization with 30 million plus members in Indonesia, issued a fatwa against gays and lesbians, calling for caning and lashes against gays and lesbians and attempts at ''forced conversions'' from deviant sexual practices.

This fatwa is similarly worded to a 2005 fatwa against the Ahmadiyah community, which resulted in their villages and mosques being burned and some of their leaders murdered. The worry is now that Islamic militants view this fatwa as permission to go on a similar rampage against gay and lesbian venues in Indonesia. Joko, the Indonesian president, has so far declined to speak out against the fatwa.